Consumer lead generation is a large and growing industry. The lead generation industry identifies consumers that may be interested in buying products or services and sells contact information for those consumers to suppliers of the products or services of interest. The contact information of the potentially interested consumer, together with the specific product or service of interest to the consumer, is known as a “lead.”
Suppliers of the products and/or services of interest buy leads because leads effectively identify consumers that are already interested in the suppliers' products and services. Accordingly, leads often result in a higher percentage of sales per contact than advertising, cold calling, or other forms of salesmanship. For this reason, product and service suppliers are willing to pay for leads from sources that are able to consistently provide leads that result in a relatively high percentage of sales.
A lead distributor obtains leads directly from interested consumers and/or indirectly from other lead sources. When selling the leads, the lead distributor is confronted with a complex set of business interrelationships and complicated contractual agreements that limit the lead distributor's options for lead distribution. For example, some leads may not be sold to certain suppliers of the products and/or services of interest. Other leads can be sold only a limited number of times.